Robot-run Henn na Hotel in Nagasaki enters Guinness book The Henn na Hotel in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, has been recognized by Guinness World Records as “the first robot-staffed hotel” in the world, according to the chief of the Huis Ten Bosch theme park. “Our hotel will keep on moving with the evolution of robots and artificial intelligence, aiming to entertain our guests better and make them happy,” Hideo Sawada, president of the theme park owned by travel agency H.I.S. Co., said Thursday at a news conference in Tokyo. “We want to boost the number of this kind of hotel to...

After Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, he will follow a time-honored tradition and make his way from the U.S. Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue. Along the way, just a few blocks before he reaches the White House, he'll pass the Trump International Hotel. The 263-room luxury hotel is becoming the focus of a debate over conflict of interest between Trump and his business dealings. Trump doesn't actually own the landmark building, which was once the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office. In 2013, he signed a 60-year lease for the building with the General Services Administration,...

Steven Schooner, a law professor at George Washington University, raised serious legal concerns about Donald Trump and his on-going interest in Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, especially after a report in the Washington Post said that foreign diplomats felt pressure to stay there. He's not the only legal expert to raise constitutional questions.

Published on Oct 26, 2016 Donald Trump on Wednesday called his new hotel in Washington D.C. the most coveted piece of real estate in town, other than the White House. Trump also congratulated Newt Gingrich for his controversial interview with Megyn Kelly. See Trump's full remarks.

One way or another, Donald Trump is about to arrive on Pennsylvania Avenue. The Trump International Hotel, Washington D.C. has its soft opening on Monday. Located in the historic Old Post Office Building at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, it’s just a few blocks from the house Trump hopes to reside in come Jan. 20. The Old Post Office, a Romanesque revival building that opened in 1899, has undergone a $200 million renovation to become a hotel. Here are the seven of its top amenities and features.

US: Ex-Prosecutor Should Be Convicted By DAVID RUNK DETROIT (AP) — A former federal prosecutor and an ex-State Department investigator wanted so badly to win convictions in the nation's first major terrorism trial after the Sept. 11 attacks that they broke the law themselves, a government attorney said Tuesday. "They crossed over the line from upholding the law to violating it," Eileen Gleason told jurors in closing arguments in the case against Richard Convertino and Harry Smith III. The two have pleaded not guilty to charges of obstruction of justice, making false declarations before a court and conspiracy. The defense...

ESTES PARK, Colo. — A man visiting the hotel that inspired the Stephen King novel “The Shining” captured a haunting image during a recent stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Henry Yau was taking a panoramic photo of the hotel’s grand stairwell and lobby, according to KPRC. He did not notice anyone walking down the stairs when he took the image, however when he looked at his picture the next day he saw the ghostly figure, according to KUSA.

A Turkish journalist has posted on Twitter that the terrorist who attacked Istanbul on Saturday followed the his Israeli victims from the moment they left their hotel until they reached Istiklal Avenue. According to the report, the terrorist then waited for the Israelis to finish eating in a restaurant, approached them, and set off his bomb. The attack left three Israelis dead and another 11 wounded. The dead victims were Simcha Damari, Yonatan Suher and Avraham Goldman. On Sunday, Turkish security officials revealed that the bomber's identity. ...

Vice President Joe Biden's hotel tab for his recent one-night stay in Mexico City cost taxpayers more than $500,000. Biden, who attended an annual economic summit with Mexican leaders, stayed at the luxury Intercontinental Presidente Hotel. Biden led a delegation attending the summit that included Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. The trip called for 260 hotel rooms and meeting spaces, according to a State Department contract. The total hotel tab was $538,528.65.

Even if he doesnâ€™t win the Republican nomination and the presidential election, there will be a Trump in Washington, D.C., come November. Located just down the street from the White House, Donald Trumpâ€™s new $200 million (ÂŁ140 million) luxury hotel in the capital is set to open in September â€“ two months before Americans head to the polls to elect a new leader. Trump confirmed the opening date this week, proudly declaring that the five-star hotel, which boasts three stunning presidential suites, will welcome its first guests two years ahead of schedule even though he had already set an opening...

Connor Cummings, of Rockaway, N.J., and an 18-year-old pal managed to get onto an upper floor of the landmark hotel overlooking Central Park with several pieces of camera equipment Wednesday night, despite not being guests there, police said. They then attempted to climb scaffolding in an interior shaft leading to the roof of the 52 story luxury E. 57th St. hotel, police sources said. Cummings and his friend were nearing the roof when Cummings slipped and fell nine stories, crashing onto a 43rd floor landing, police said. He died at the scene.

More than a dozen of New York City's most famed hotels are pledging to get greener. The Waldorf-Astoria New York, the Lotte New York Palace, the Pierre-A Taj Hotel and the Crowne Plaza Times Square are among the 16 city hotels - all currently thronged with tourists visiting New York for the holidays - whose owners have agreed to cut greenhouse gases from their buildings by 30 percent or more in the next decade. ...

Robert DeNiro may be one of the best actors of his generation but when it comes to the hospitality industry, the star apparently has a lot to learn. Nobu Hotel Manila, which is co-owned by the actor, chef Nobu Matshuhisa and movie producer Meir Teper, was named as the worst new luxury hotel of 2015 by Luxury Travel Intelligence (LTI), a members-only group that touts membership comprised of jetsetters and high net worth individuals, on their annual best and worst new hotels list. DeNiro, who has worked with the lauded Japanese chef in his growing restaurant empire, was not able...

The Navy announced Monday that it has reprimanded a two-star admiral for getting drunk and wandering naked around a Florida beachfront hotel while attending a conference with defense contractors. Rear Adm. David F. Baucom, the director of strategy and policy at the U.S. Transportation Command, became so intoxicated at an upscale beachfront resort in April that he struck his head on a barstool, wet his pants and needed an escort back to his room, according to an investigative report by the Naval Inspector General. A few hours later, still in a haze, Baucom re-emerged from his room without any clothes...

Armed jihadists have killed at least three people in a deadly shooting rampage after taking 170 hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali. Automatic weapons fire was heard on the seventh floor of the 190-room hotel, where it was thought as many as 10 militants roamed through the building, looking for guests and members of staff. 80 hostages have since been freed as special forces entered the building. Six American nationals have been rescued alive but several other American remain inside with the other 125 guests and 13 employees trapped inside the besieged hotel. The Pentagon revealed that...

Gunmen have taken 170 hostages, killing three so far at the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital Bamako. The gunmen are reported to be releasing people that can recite verses from the Quran. Automatic weapon fire was heard from outside the 190-room hotel in the city-centre where security forces have set up a security cordon, according to Agence France Presse. Security sources told AFP the gunmen were "jihadists" who had entered the hotel compound in a car that had diplomatic plates. "It's all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," one security source said. Malian soldiers,...

Muslim terrorists opened fire on an upscale hotel on Friday in the city of Bamako, the capital of the western African state of Mali. The jihadists used automatic weapons according to security sources, and apparently have taken people hostage in the Radisson Blu Hotel. Some reports indicate that at least three people have died in the attack. The luxury hotel, which has 190 rooms, is a popular site for Western officials according to French-language media. According to the French RFI radio, the attack was launched by three assailants who entered the hotel with diplomatic cars. Security forces have set up...

AMMAN, Jordan — Just after nightfall Feb. 3, a warrant arrived at the city’s main women’s prison for the execution of Sajida al-Rishawi. The instructions had come from King Abdullah II himself, then in Washington on a state visit, and were transmitted from his private plane to the royal court in Jordan’s capital. A clerk relayed the message to the Interior Ministry and then to the prisons department, where it caused a stir. State executions are complicated affairs requiring many steps, yet the king’s wishes were explicit: The woman would face the gallows before the sun rose the next day.

President Obama and his entourage will break with tradition and not stay at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel during the United Nations General Assembly this month, the White House said. The iconic hotel was sold by Hilton Worldwide Holdings to a Chinese conglomerate in 2014, prompting concerns about espionage and security. Obama and his team of advisers will stay at the Lotte New York Palace hotel instead. “I can confirm the report that the president will stay — and the rest of the U.S. delegation will stay at the New York Palace Hotel,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said....

sources headed to the Toronto International Film Festival tell Page Six that some stars may boycott his branded Trump Toronto Hotel, which was buzzing with starry activity just a year ago. Â“No oneÂ’s staying at the TrumpÂ” this year, sniffed one showbiz vet. Â“People are not going back. Talent does not want to stay there. ItÂ’s like the Beverly Hills Hotel.Â” [snip] A Weinstein rep told us of its move: Â“It was simply based on convenience and logisticsÂ” rather than Â“anything to do with Mr. TrumpÂ’s politics.Â” Harvey Weinstein has joked to the Hollywood Reporter that his liberal mom is...

The sharing economy is changing the way we work, live and play. But nowhere have we better seen the benefits of this change than in our transportation and travel. In just a few years, we’ve added Lyft, Uber and SideCar to our zeitgeist for rides and turned to Airbnb for housing when visiting a city. We’ve lovingly termed this change “disruption.” It’s a disruption of industries that have remained relatively unchanged for decades and a disruption craved by us all. We’re turning our cars and homes into valuable assets and facilitating the type of customer experience we all want. Of...

I will be visiting Standford, CA for a few days while my daughter attends a camp. We wish to stay at a hotel within 10 miles or so of campus. I am unfamiliar with the area and do not wish to end up in a poor section of town. When I search for affordable rooms the service tries to put me in Fremont or near the San Jose Airport etc. AS I do not know these areas, I thought I'd ask the advice of some Freepers.

Plans have been unveiled to build the world's largest hotel, which could be open as early as 2017. The Abraj Kudai, will be located in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a city visited each year more than 15million Muslims. With twelve 44-story towers containing 10,000 rooms, the hotel, which is being created by multi-national design group Dar Al Handasah will have a total area of 4.6 million square feet.

Sign me up for a crying room if we get Obama-redux in 2016. Japan is already bracing for Progressive Doomsday. Sure we got campus Safe Zones but nothing like the comfy cozy niches that Japan offers the weak-kneed, faint of heart, reality-averse denizens of the new millennium. I might even need a cuddle cafe to calm my nerves. There are even exciting extra cost optionals allowing you to lock eyes with and hair-stroke your lady cuddlemate. Or I can wander into the Owl Cafe where I can be soothed by fluttering birds or go to Maidreamin where pretty girls dressed...

If the ghosts of Frank Sinatra and Liberace were still hanging around the Riviera Hotel and Casino on Monday morning, they wouldn't have found a seat at the bar. Crowds squeezed onto barstools and milled about the casino floor saying goodbye to "The Riv," a classic that spent 60 years on the Las Vegas Strip and closed at noon. It's an age reached by few properties along the four-mile stretch of hulking casino resorts mimicking other worldly landmarks or beckoning passers-by with all their wants in one place that have replaced Sin City's recent past.

If you’ve ever wanted to sleep with a giant lizard — and let’s face it, you only live once — one Japanese hotel has just the thing with its soon-to-be opened Godzilla Room. Hotel Gracery in Tokyo’s buzzing Shinjuku entertainment district offers the chance to catch some shuteye under the watchful gaze of a man-sized atomic mutant as he stomps on a miniature version of Tokyo in the corner of your room. For those extra-unsettling dreams, a giant Godzilla hand, complete with razor-like claws, looms over the twin beds to ensure you get maximum value from the Ą39,800 a night...

WASHINGTON — A senior State Department official is confirming the death of one U.S. citizen in Tuesday's attack on a Libyan hotel. The official isn't providing any further details. Libyan officials said four foreigners and five guards were killed Tuesday after gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. The ensuring standoff ended when two assailants set off a grenade that killed them, officials said. The attack on the Corinthia Hotel, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea, started in the morning hours and included a car bombing, said Essam al-Naas, a spokesman for a Tripoli security agency.

Ottawa cops have sealed off an area in the east end due to a “possible threat” involving chemicals and/or explosives. Cops say they are at the scene at St-Laurent Blvd. and Joseph Cyr Street and asking the public to avoid the area. The original call came in at about 10:15 p.m., involving a vehicle possibly connected to an investigation in Nova Scotia, sources tell the Sun. “CBRNE and HAZMAT attended the scene to investigate a threat made by a suspicious male who had possibly checked in at the Chimo Hotel located in the 1100 block of Joseph Cyr,” police said...

During his time as a personal aide, Reggie Love developed a very personal bond with Barack Obama. The 'bodyman' stuck with him during the 2008 presidential campaign and during his first years in the White House. But there is perhaps one moment where their working relationship became slightly awkward. Love recounts how he was staying in a hotel during the presidential campaign when he had a female friend from college to stay - and the then Senator Obama barged in.

North Korea is so isolated that rather than bring the Internet to its hackers, it brings them to it—in a swank hotel in China. The luxury hotel that has been called a command post for North Korean hackers would make for a unique holiday getaway and give you lots to talk about back home. “Surprisingly Great Hotel - Clean, Tasteful.... and North Korean!” says a trip advisor review for the Chilbosan Hotel in Shenyang, China. For just $53, you get “a deluxe twin room,” including a North Korean breakfast considerably more substantial than those enjoyed by the vast majority of...

SKOPJE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A British man with symptoms of the Ebola virus died in Macedonia on Thursday and authorities said they had sealed off a hotel where he stayed, keeping another Briton and hotel staff inside. A Health Ministry official said the man had arrived in the capital, Skopje, from Britain on Oct. 2 and had been rushed to hospital at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Thursday, where he died several hours later.

New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel holds a special place for many Chinese visitors — starting at the very top. The diminutive Chairman Deng Xiaoping stayed at the hotel during his first trip to the United States in 1974, where then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger threw a banquet in his honor. Deng’s handpicked successors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao followed his example, as have luminaries including Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma, who used the glamorous venue to launch his recent IPO roadshow, attracting hundreds of investors. The hotel has been sold to the Chinese, but the purchaser behind this week’s $1.95 billion...

Do you leave a tip in your hotel room for the maid? Marriott is launching a program with Maria Shriver to put envelopes in hotel rooms to encourage tipping. The campaign, called 'The Envelope Please,' begins this week. Envelopes will be placed in 160,000 rooms in the U.S. and Canada. Some 750 to 1,000 hotels will participate from Marriott brands like Courtyard, Residence Inn, J.W. Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance hotels. The name of the person who cleans the room will be written on the envelope along with a message: 'Our caring room attendants enjoyed making your stay warm and comfortable....

Most defensive shootings do not occur in four star hotels. But on the 6th floor of the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio last Saturday, the 12th of July, there was an exception. An occupant of the hotel, Moises Torres, 34, is said to have been creating a disturbance in the hallway, breaking light fixtures and banging on doors, saying "he was looking for someone to kill". At least one person called security. When the CHL (concealed handgun license) permit holder thought Torres was gone, he opened his door. He reported that Torres charged him and the...

A valet at the five star Le Meridien Hotel in New Delhi, India is in a certain amount of trouble after he wrecked a guest's precious Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder recently, causing damages of up to $330,000 to the luxury vehicle. Captured on CCTV for all the world to see, the valet, Arun Kumar drives the car from the parking area at the hotel to the busy valet area. He briefly gets out of the car. Then, after climbing back in, the car suddenly lurches forward, sending other valets running for cover as it hits a wall head-on. The valet managed...

A judge who condemned a Christian couple for turning away gay guests from their hotel yesterday said her decision may have been wrong. Supreme Court deputy president Baroness Hale called for a rethink on religious and gay rights six months after she rejected the B&B owners’ arguments in a key test case. Lady Hale said in a speech that the law has done too little to protect the beliefs of Christians. And she cast doubts over her own judgment in the landmark case in which a gay couple sued Christian hoteliers Peter and Hazelmary Bull.

Meth lab discovered inside Chamblee hotel DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators dismantled meth lab found at a DeKalb County hotel Saturday night. Channel 2 Action News was at the scene as the Georgia Bureau of Investigations began their investigation. Our crews watched them, armed with search warrant, go inside and investigate the meth lab. The owner of the Lodge on Buford Hotel only meant to evict a tenant who hadn't paid his bill, but he found himself calling Chamblee police. “When the officer got here, the tenant had actually left. He went inside with the owner of facility and found...

Where’s PETA? Police are investigating Democratic State Rep. David Campbell after he plowed over a number of ducks on the road at the Crowne Royal Hotel in Nashua. The Union Leader reported: Police are investigating the death of a number of ducks allegedly hit by a vehicle operated by one of the city’s state representatives. State Rep. David Campbell, D-Nashua, reportedly ran over the ducks at a speed of about 15 mph in the driveway of the Crowne Royal Hotel in Nashua. The incident is said to have occurred on Monday, Dec. 23, The Telegraph of Nashua reported Sunday. Campbell...

How would you like to stay at a hotel where in the room next door an aborting mother was delivering her dead baby into the toilet, and where the abortionist came to complete the abortion and wrap and remove the dead baby? Worse, how would you like to stay in a hotel room where a late-term abortion was committed the night before? Where a mother delivered her dead baby on your toilet, in your bathroom, with all the blood and body secretions that come with it? Where the abortionist had the mother lie on your bed to finish it? Do...

As pro-life groups continue to campaign for a measure residents of Albuquerque, New Mexico will vote on Tuesday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a new undercover video exposes how one local hotel is offering discounts for late-term abortion patients. The pro-life organization Live Action has released a second investigative video, highlighting what Live Action President Lila Rose has coined “room-service abortions” – and the hotels that profit off such sinister arrangements. The video follows closely on the heels of another one showing the local late-term abortion business that would be affected by the ban uses an...

YANGON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- A small bomb explosion in Myanmar's Yangon, injured one foeigner at midnight, Local witnesses said on Tuesday. The blast occurred in the ninth floor of the Traders Hotel at about 11:30 midnight (local time) on Monday, witnesses added. Currently, many media reporters have arrived this hotel, but police have not provided further information. A small bomb explosion in Thakayta, Myanmar's Yangon, injured two children Sunday evening. Another minor one occurred with a roadside bus stop kiosk in Yangon's Insein township without casualties on last Saturday midnight.

Hey, this thing will be great for firing rockets off the roof at Israeli civilians! "Grand Park Hotel Celebrates Being First Five-Star Hotel in Palestine," from the Palestine News Network, September 25 (thanks to Maxwell): The headquarters of the Grand Park hotel in Ramallah celebrated its coronation as the first "Five-Star" hotel in Palestine. The celebration was attended by Rula MaayÂ’a, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Musa Hadid, the Mayor of Ramallah, the hotelÂ’s Chairman Loay Qawas, and its General Director, Mohammad Zamlat. There was also a crowd of businessmen and representatives from many institutions. The Minister of Tourism...

A man in Zimbabwe got the surprise of his life when he discovered an eight-foot crocodile lying under his bed. Guy Whittall slept through the night at a Humani lodge, where he also works, without any idea what was lying beneath him. It was only after he got out of bed to eat breakfast and heard the screams of a housekeeper that he saw the crocodile.

From New Orleans, a classic case of how becoming stupid drunk can cause you and other people a world of trouble. If you are so drunk as to not know where you are, you put your life at risk when you attempt to force your way into a place, and threaten a resident while doing so. From nola.com The guest confronted Dousay and told him he had the wrong room, the report said. But when the victim entered the room, Dousay threw his leg into the doorway and tried to force his way in, McGregor said. The victim yelled, "stop"...

In the darkness of a hotel parking lot, the fugitive task force moved quickly to stop the black pickup with the murder suspect riding inside. Only their fugitive wasn't in the truck. Instead, Henry Kiner, 27, was dressed in camouflage and perched on the hotel's second floor, where he used a shotgun to blast away at the unsuspecting task force members below, officials said. Broward Sheriff Scott Israel called it an "ambush" that backfired when officers and deputies fired back toward the hotel, killing Kiner just outside Room 212 of the Days Inn in Oakland Park early Wednesday.

Terrorists operating in the Egyptian resort town of El Arish in the northern Sinai Peninsula fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a hotel, according to Al-Ahram. Casualties were reported. Officials in Sinai say the political instability that continues to wrack the country in the wake of Mohammed Morsi’s ouster by the military is having an adverse impact on tourism to the peninsula, according to Al-Ahram.

ALMERIA, Spain, May 20 (UPI) -- A hotel in Spain has come under fire for refusing to let a group of children with Down syndrome stay the night because they "might annoy other guests." Hotel CaboGata Plaza Suites in Almeria refused a reservation for a group of children with Down syndrome who were planning on celebrating the end of their school year, The Local.es reported. The hotel said it would not board the children because "these kinds of people might annoy other guests." Management at the hotel has apologized for the incident, saying it was "a misunderstanding," adding, "In 35...